This invention relates to a process of manufacturing a breathing bag and to a breathing bag manufactured by such process.
Breathing bags are well known to the medical arts for delivering, or assisting in delivering, gas to a patient such as anesthesia gas or a breathing gas such as oxygen or oxygen-enriched air. Typical prior art breathing bags are illustrated diagrammatically in FIGS. 1A and 1B, FIGS. 2A and 2B, FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C and FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C.
Typically, in the prior art, such breathing bags are made by the dipping process much like the process used for producing a candle. A form is made in the shape of the breathing bag desired and the form is dipped repeatedly into a fluid suitable for producing a breathing bag such as, for example, a latex or non-latex fluid. Such process is typically slow, unwantedly expensive and lends itself to imperfections.
Further, the typical prior art breathing bag is made by the aforenoted dipping process and has a relatively thin wall thickness such that the connector portion is insufficiently stiff or rigid to connect, for example, to a standard 22 mm tapered male fitting or a non-tapered tubular or hollow cylindrical fitting. More particularly and referring to FIGS. 5 and 5A, these FIGS. show a typical prior art breathing bag made by the above-noted dipping process and each breathing bag includes a distensible portion 2 and a neck portion 4. Having been made by the above-noted dipping process, the distensible portions 2 and the neck portions 4 are typically 0.010-0.015 inch thick. Such thickness means that the neck portions 4 are insufficiently stiff or rigid to be connected directly to one of the above-noted male fittings. Hence, as is further known to the art, these prior art breathing bags made by the dipping process require the addition of a separate cylindrical bushing such as the bushings 5 and 6 shown respectively in FIGS. 5 and 5A to be inserted into the neck portion to provide the required stiffness or rigidity to permit these breathing bags to be connected to the above-noted male fittings. Typically, such bushings 5 and 6 are made from polyvinyl chloride and have a wall thickness of about 0.125 inch. Although such bushings 5 and 6 are sufficiently rigid or stiff to permit the breathing bags to be connected to one of the above-noted fittings, such bushings are still sufficiently soft to permit the bushings to slidably or wedgedly engage the above-noted male fittings. As will be noted from FIG. 5, the bushing 5 has an inwardly tapered internal wall for being fitted to a tapered male fitting in a sliding or wedged air-tight engagement, and the bushing 6 in FIG. 5A has a straight or cylindrical internal wall for air-tight sliding or wedged engagement with a tubular or cylindrical fitting. Further, as will be understood from FIG. 5A, to retain the bushings 5 and 6 in the neck portion 4 of these breathing bags, an additional element is included such as the surrounding retaining ring or band 7 shown in FIG. 5A which surrounds the bag neck portion 4 sufficiently tightly so as to retain the bushing 6 in the neck portion of the breathing bag. As is further known to the art, the requirement of these additional bushings, the retaining bands, and the manufacturing steps required to insert and retain the bushings in the breathing bags further add unwanted cost and expense to the manufacture of the typical prior art breathing bag.
Accordingly, there is a need in the breathing bag art for a new and improved process for manufacturing a breathing bag and for a new and improved breathing bag manufactured by such process. Still further, there is a need in the breathing bag art for a new and improved process of manufacturing which produces a neck portion formed integrally with the distensible portion and which neck portion is sufficiently stiff or rigid to permit it to connect the breathing bag directly to a male fitting of the types noted above.